SPLEEN is the personal blog of Stephen Judd

Talking to the council about the liquor ban extension

The Wellington City Council wants to extend the current CBD liquor ban to the whole city. This has been sparked by the behaviour of the hardcore street drinkers who used to hang out in town, but who have now moved to Newtown instead.

I think it's a bad idea, and in a moment of enthusiasm, I made a submission through the Council website and said I'd like to talk in person.

These are my speaking notes for tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Thanks for listening

There is a problem -- serious -- real

Glad that the council wants to address it

Who am I?

a "respectable citizen"

a Wellingtonian by choice

a lover of Wellington

a potential criminal

like most councillors and their constituents!

Why am I making this submission?

I don't think the policy is going to work

I think the policy is unfair

I think the policy is going to have side-effects that no one wants

I think there are other ways to deal with this problem

Assumptions

that the real issue is the behaviour of a hard core of a few problem drinkers

that those drinkers are people with serious problems

no one aims to end up like this

they deserve our compassion

the best solution is one that improves things for EVERYONE

... or at least doesn't make it worse

Not going to work

Look at the CBD now

mayhem in early morning

fighting

puking

pissing

Alcoholics won't stop drinking

They'll move around from one spot to another

If I were a police officer, I'd encourage them to hole up somewhere quiet...

We'll return to this later under "discretion" and "better solutions"

We already have a bunch of rules that aren't being used

sale of liquor to intoxicated persons

trick question

Q: How many prosecutions for sale to intoxicated persons last year?

A: NONE.

We'll return to this under "unfairness"

summary offences punishable by up to 3 months in jail

Disorderly behaviour

Offensive behaviour or language

Disorderly assembly

Wilful Damage

Intimidation

Obstructing public way

Indecent Exposure

Excreting in a public place

Unfair

Lots of us like to drink in public and do so responsibly now

parks

beaches

council-associated events like the concerts in the Botanic Gardens

It was suggested in the paper that the police would allow this kind of drinking by using their discretion

This is unacceptable

Police already use their discretion with the instruments I mentioned earlier -- that shows you what discretion does

If you don't know what driving while brown is, you don't get around much...

... but you can bet that drinking while brown is about to become a new thing

This kind of use of discretion breeds contempt for the law, the police, and the local authorities

Coincidentally, the way discretion is currently used it is incredibly lenient on licencees -- the drug pushers

... whereas herding the street drunks around is punishing the drug addicts

Unwanted side effects

if discretion is used as suggested, erosion of respect for the law

if discretion is not used, and the law is applied fairly, a serious blow to one of the nicer parts of life in the city

chronic alcoholics drinking away from supervision and help are at higher risk and so are people who encounter them accidentally

Other ways

I don't just want to moan, I want to offer alterntives that have been proved in other cities with similar problems and culture.

The gold standard, best practice, world class solution (I know councillors know this, I just want to recap and reinforce)

Multi-agency co-operation between law enforcement, healthcare providers and local goverment

Examples:

Serial Inebriate programme in San Diego

Home Ground in Melbourne

Common Ground in Adelaide

Seaton House Annex Harm Reduction Program in Toronto

This is expensive and hard...

... but it reduces overall costs to society

... and it's humane

... and it works with human nature, not against it

The cheap and cheerful solution

Drinkers Corner in Brockwell Park, London

"Welcome to Britain's first purpose-built drinking den for homeless alcoholics - in a London park popular with families. It is seen as such a success that it may be replicated around the country."

Total cost 1900 quid

Above quote from the fucking Daily Telegraph

if rabid Tories can support this, it's probably not that extreme a solution

Good question about the RWC. I don't know. Helene Ritchie was adamant that the proposal was a good idea, and part of her argument was that it was intended to target all badly-behaved drinkers, not just our friends the chronic alkies. So potentially it could be see as making life hard for RWC crowds rather than as cleaning up the streets.

On the other hand, she was also keen to point out that the by-law would provide for permits for events, like concerts at the Bot Gardens for example. I asked if that meant I could get a permit for my picnic to make it legal, but she was evasive on that point...

Anyway, aside from some sparring with Ritchie, most of the other councillors seemed quite sympathetic. I also made contact with Stephanie McIntyre from the Downtown Community Ministry, and she seemed pleased with what I had said. I get the impression that there might have been more critical responses than the councillors who back the plan were expecting.

I've been interviewed by ZB News and National Radio too, which was surprising and a bit embarassing.